Stuffing box structure



April 4, 1950 J N. MICKELWAIT ET AL STUFFING BOX STRUCTURE Filed Feb. 6, 1948 I INVENTORS James N. Micke lwafl- ATTORNEYS.

Patented Apr. 4, 1950 STUFFING BOX STRUCTURE James N. Mickelwait and Joseph R. Gibbs, Hackberry, La.

Application February 6, 1948, Serial No. 6,776

3 Claims.

This invention relates to anti-friction devices, and more particularly to stuffing boxes for reciprocating members, such as polished rods employed in well pumping operations.

In the employment of rubber-packed stuffing boxes, it has been the experience that when such boxes are employed with polished rods in pumping stripper wells, when the wells pump off, the stuffing boxes run dry and hot, in many cases, and this causes the rubber packing to adhere to the polished rods and quickly destroys the ,usefulness of the packing. As a consequence, when the wells head fluid again, the fluid will flow through the useless stufiing boxes, making necessary shutting down the well for repacking.

An important object of the invention is to provide a novel stufi'mg box, employing no rubber packing.

Another important object is to provide a stuffing box which may be quickly and easily provided with packing means.

Still another important object is to provide a novel stuffing box and novel associated structure, comprising but few parts and with none of them complicated.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the follow: ing detailed description of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this disclosure, and in which drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical section, including substantially conventional casing, casing head, nipple, tubing, polished rod and sucker rod, together with the novel stuifing box structure associated therewith.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the new stuff ing box structure substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical section, on an enlarged scale, of the lower end of the novel stuffing box structure.

In the drawing, wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter A designates a well casing, B a casing head, C a nipple, D tubing, E polished rod or reciprocating member, F sucker rod and G the novel stuffing box structure.

The casing A, casing head B, mounted thereon, nipple C extending upwardly from the casing head, tubing D, together with the polished rod E, reciprocating in the tubing D, and the sucker rod F are all of conventional construction. The

nipple C is preferably exteriorly screw threaded at It at its upper end, is provided with a laterallyextending outlet 'Il intermediate'its length and the walls of the nipple define a chamber I2. The walls of the tubing D define a chamber i3 opening into the chamber I2. The polished rod E may be provided with a screw threaded lower end portion M to be screwed into a screw threaded socket l5 carried by the upper end of the sucker rod F.

The novel stuffing box structure G preferably comprises a stationary box 29, means 2| to couple the box 20 to the upper end of the nipple C, a stationary sleeve 22, means 23 to couple the sleeve 22 to the lower end of the box 20, and a reciprocable sleeve 26, telescopically slidable with respect to the stationary sleeve 22 and coupled to the lower end portion of the polished rod E and upper end portion of the sucker rod F. v

More specifically, the stationary box or reservoir 20 is preferably cup-shaped, but bottomless, with its wall 25 being substantially cylindrical at its upper end portion, defining an upwardlyopening, relatively wide mouth 28 and, at the lower end of this upper end portion the wall 25, converges and ends in a downwardly-extending collar 21, and provides a downwardly-opening discharge port 28. The wall 25 defines a chamber 29.

Means 2! to couple the box it to the nipple C may be a coupling 3|] being interiorly screw threaded at its upper portion, as at 3! to cooperate with exterior screw thread 32 carried by the collar 21, and being interiorly screw threaded at its lower portion, as at 33, to cooperate with the screw threads IQ of the nipple C. The upper end face of the wall of the nipple C and the bottom face of the colla 21 are spaced apart for a purpose detailed in the next paragraph.

The stationary sleeve 22 is, preferably, an elongated cylindrical tube, open at both ends, with its upper end portion provided with an outwardlyextending enlargement 35 having suitable faces 36 to provide wrench holds and is disposed within the space between the bottom of the collar 21 and upper end face of the nipple wall while, above this enlargement 35, the sleeve 22 carries exterior screw threads 31 to cooperate with interior screw threads 38 of the collar 21, thus providing the means 23.

The reciprocable sleeve 24 is, preferably, of greater diameter than the sleeve 22, so that it will have a slidable fit over the latter and can reciprocate therealong. It may be an elongated cylindrical tube for the greater portion of its length but terminates at its lower portion in a bottom wall 40, provided with an axially-disposed, in-

teriorly screw threaded opening 4i so that it may be coupled with the lower, screw threaded end portion H of the polished rod E, with this end portion projecting downwardly from the lower face 42 of the wall 40 and coupled to the sucker rod F as described, with the upper end face of the socket l5 bearing against the face 42. The walls of the sleeves 22 and 24 define a passageway 43 which, due to the reciprocation of the sleeve 24 varies in size longitudinally as well as transversely. That is the size of the passageway 43 is considerably greater when the sleeve 24 is in its lowermost position. Extending through the passageway 43 and spaced from the walls thereof, is the polished rOd E.

When assembled as described, the novel stuffing box structure G is ready to receive a suitable packing, which may be oil. This oil fiows from the chamber 29 in the box 20, into which it is introduced, through the passageway 43 and, of course, as the sleeve 24 moves downwardly, exposing the inner face of the sleeve 22, lubricates that face and, as sleeve 24 moves upwardly, the oil re-enters the chamber 29. It is now obvious that a glance into the mouth 26 of the box 20 will apprise the operator as to the depth and condition of the oil and the wide mouth 26 enables oil to be introduced without stopping operations. Because of this body of oil, there is no need for rubber or like packing, and the arrangement of parts is such that the novel structure may be readily assembled and disassembled.

What is claimed is:

1. In a stufling box structure for association with a nipple having a side discharge opening and a polished rod, said stuffing box structure including a reservoir, for fluid packing, having a wide upper opening extending to a portion of the periphery of said polished rod and spaced therefrom, and a port at its lower end; a pair of tele-.

scopically-disposed tubular members surrounding the lower portion of said polished rod, said tubular members being in peripheral contact, and with their upper extremities being surrounded by and spaced from said nipple; means fixedly securing one of said members to said reservoir at said port to open thereunto; the other of said tubular members having a lowermost end wall, means mounting said reservoir upon said nipple at a location above said discharge port and with said opening above the upper ends of said tubular members, and means securing the lower end of said polished rod to said wall.

2. In a stufiing box structure for association with a hollow support, a polished rod and a sucker rod, said structure including a box for fluid packing, said box having a port at its lower end; means mounting said box upon said support; an open-ended tube; a second tube telescopically-associated with the first tube with a face of each in sliding contact and with said second tube having one open end and one closed end with the closed end lowermost; means securing said first tube, at the upper end thereof. to said box at said port to depend from said box and extend through the hollow of said support; means securing the lower end of said polished rod to said second tube at said closed end, with portions of said polished rod disposed within said tubes and box and spaced therefrom; and means securing the upper end of said sucker rod to said second tube at said closed end to depend from said second tube.

3. In a stuffing box structure for association with a vertically-disposed nipple having a side discharge opening, a polished rod and a sucker rod, said structure including a reservoir having a port at its lower end; means mounting said reservoir upon the upper end of said nipple comprising a coupling having interior screw threads and exterior screw threads carried by said reservoir and nipple; an open ended vertically-disposed tube; means mounting said tube at the upper end of said tube to said reservoir, comrising interior screw threads carried by said reservoir and exterior screw threads carried by said tube; a second tube telescoping with said first tube and with the inner face of said second tube REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,851,915 Ligon Mar. 29, 1932 2,218,839 Armstrong et a1. Oct. 22, 1940 Outcalt June 16, 1942 

